Beginners Polo

INTEREST IN NORTH BEGINNERS POLO

1. Poots
   
2. Butters
   
3. Xander
   
   
   

But only until my bike sells!

North polo... Benjamin was appointed in charge ...

Does that mean 6 months down the line, we'd have many mini Ben on the court hitting their mallets on the ground every 30 secs??

North polo never got off the ground

Well, it was running for quite a while, it died down after a few people stopped playing.

There are still a number of courts, and people interested in playing.

Bit like Wests. really.

NE polo is on Tues, Thurs and Weekends and is very fast.

Don't let that put you off though, anyone is more than welcome at NE polo, even if you've hardly played before.

I was playing NE polo long before I ever went to beginners, and even when I did start playing beginners, I was still playing NE polo twice a week as well.

Is it a steep learning curve? yes. Will it be tough? yes. But to get better you need to play a mix of levels. Play easier games to get time on the ball, but play harder games to learn from the best.

Don't let that put you off though, anyone is more than welcome at NE polo, even if you've hardly played before.

I was playing NE polo long before I ever went to beginners, and even when I did start playing beginners, I was still playing NE polo twice a week as well.

Is it a steep learning curve? yes. Will it be tough? yes. But to get better you need to play a mix of levels. Play easier games to get time on the ball, but play harder games to learn from the best.

I have already posted in another thread but withour reply (might of been wrong thread, sorry!)

A mate and I really want to try polo but have no experiance, both of us have fixies ( however not quite right for polo I believe.)
The crunch bit however is that the only day we can do is tomorrow, Thursday. Would it be ok if we gave one of the courts a visit, and if so what one? we both road race/ride a lot so have above standard bike experiance probably wont help i presume.... any help or guidence would be much appreciated.
Basically A mate and I want to have a go at polo. the only day we can do is thursday. I know this isnt a beginners day or anything but would it be ok if we came along and had a go? Both of us have a lot of riding experiance but nothing like polo.
Any help or guidence would be really helpful.

Cheers,

Bouncy

yeah, just come along. I'm not sure which court yet, Downs or Mitch, check the North East Polo thread.

[QUOTE=Wicksie;2483367]North polo... Benjamin was appointed in charge ...

Does that mean 6 months down the line, we'd have many mini Ben on the court hitting their mallets on the ground every 30 secs??[/quote]

INTEREST IN NORTH BEGINNERS POLO

1. Poots
   
2. Butters
   
3. Xander
   
4. Tom
   

Don't let that put you off though, anyone is more than welcome at NE polo, even if you've hardly played before.

I really appreciate this attitude; in fact, the reason I started playing polo only when I got to London, despite having lived in many polo-heavy cities (Oakland, Philly, NYC) was the openness to beginners.

That said, there seems to be a divide among the people I talk to about this question. A few people have been very vocal about less-strong players checking out any game they want, while others I've asked have discouraged it. I fully understand people's reservations about encouraging beginners or near-beginners on faster courts. Just about every other sport has tiers, so that people are matched as far as experience goes.

I should point out that this is from the perspective of a very new player/beginner.

That said, there seems to be a divide among the people I talk to about this question. A few people have been very vocal about less-strong players checking out any game they want, while others I've asked have discouraged it.

Really? Who has been vocal about this? Other people at beginners?
You should feel free to go to any regular throw in you want. But as you then say yourself:

I fully understand people's reservations about encouraging beginners or near-beginners on faster courts. Just about every other sport has tiers, so that people are matched as far as experience goes.

You'll get more out of playing with people roughly your own ability, especially when starting off.

You wouldnt walk into a Premier League game if you were learning how to play football, or suddenly compete with Chris Hoy if it was your first time on the track.
Well, you might, but you'll be out of your depth a bit, probably wont learn too much, or have the space to develop your own skills, becoming disheartened in the process.

A beginner showed up at Downs on a Sunday morning six weeks or so ago. Cosmic (arguably the best team in Britain) were playing their usual Sunday games there. I cant remember who else was there for throw ins, but (as always) when playing against, or even with them, it was incredibly tough to keep up and get involved in the game.
I dont think the new guy touched the ball once in his two or three games where he played, unless we rolled it gently to him at the reset - and I dont think he's ever come back since. I told him to go to Peckham - but I didnt mean it in any aggressive, highly vocal way, it was more just to get him used to it, and to enjoy the game, so he'd feel like his skills were improving, and he'd come back again.

It's a tricky situation as the London Polo Community grows and the gap between 'beginners' and 'regulars' gets bigger.
Just before I started, any noobs would have to htfu and get in the thick of it. It was very hard and you would need a lot of determination and excitement for the game in order to stay. But quickly you would improve and find your groove.
Polo is constantly advancing and it's reached a bit more of a serious level with international competitions, sponsorship etc. so the gap between 'regulars' and 'beginners' is now vast.
It's a tricky situation for the London Polo Community because I know no-one wants segregation and we really don't want Tuesdays in Peckham to become it's own entity.
The only contentious issue so far is the intermediates night on Mondays which is designed for the 'B cats' to step up their game.
The fact is that everyone is welcome at any session anywhere, but if you want to go North, South or even intermediates, then you should be practising and playing hard so you can find your groove in these sessions.
You will definitely improve your game by stepping outside beginners so it should be encouraged. Don't forget that we were all beginners once, but I can assure you that the vast majority of us have practised hard to get better and put in a lot of effort doing solo polo and drills and organising games with like skilled players.

I started beginners polo because new players were disheartened by not being in the game and weren't getting a chance. It was meant as a stepping stone in to the LPC so you can hit the ground running. A lot of people have done this when it first started and it has definitely helped them.

Please don't think that you are not wanted.
Please play as much polo as you can and you will improve.

Polo love.

Ok there's two issues here, first is the segregation, as Joni says, when most of the more experienced players started, there was no beginners so you had no choice but to get in the thick of it (although both souths and wests were started for similar reasons to beginners!)... This meant that usually when I started at souths there'd be at least a couple and often four or five beginners. These days it's rare to have more than one beginner at south throw ins which I think makes it harder for those that do venture out.

But although this is harder for the people who come to normal throwins I don't think anyone can argue that beginners has been anything but good for new players.

The second issue is the perceived gap between beginners and intermediates. Personally I think as soon as someone can pass and dribble the ball they should feel welcome at intermediates. The cat nights can only help polo if they overlap. And I am certain that one day their will be a cat a night and I think a lot of the people who are coming to cat b would be able to handle the next level up.

Then one day their will be the professionals the level higher than that!

Sorry went off a little flight of fancy, what I meant to say was that i bet a lot of the 24 people at beginners this week are good enough for intermediates.

The last time I went most of the people there were good enough for intermediates.

I think us the peckham lot should have regular outing to Newt!! I have always been tempted to go to the regular thrown-ins but fear of being the only beginner or not fast / skilled enough to keep up with the other 5 people on the court is what's stopping me. Plus we have been having more beginners who come to Peckham regularly, it is a sort of comfort zone for us as we are at similar levels. But I cannot agree more than if we want to step up the game then we really do have to play with the "big boys".

You should deffo go to Wednesday throw-ins, they're for everyone!!!

Monday's are for everyone too but the idea is that it's a medium-paced affair so it may not suit those players just starting out...

And it's funny someone at hells belles did comment that we seem to have our own community at Peckham, which I guess it's a good thing that there is a community, but on the other hand, it's probably not a good idea for us to just to stick to ourselves for any length of time.

Maybe we could have a beginners outing to Newt next Wed?? Anyone??

I am gonna have to go on Wed now TS:

1. To prove to you I do actually play POLO!!!!!
   
2. New job getting in the way of my Tues beginners sessions.
   

^^I don't like the implication of your statement.

No back no talk.

Ha ninja edit!

Huh??

He was talking to me...

Fair enough. For the record, I am a very sensitive person and I nearly cried... :-P

Sorry your post appeared after I hit post... And TS's original post was just the first line of what it is now, but he edited it.

Oh and you don't need to prove you play polo until he proves to you that he does! (he prob won't be out next wed!)

It's OK, I was only joking. We bumped into TS yesterday and he says he's never seen me on the court, hence the response.

Oh, do you still need some socket screws? I saw you asking John on another thread. I bought a few yesterday coz I only work down the road. Could give you 1 or 2 if you need in exchange for beer? I might have some spare nuts too. Have to say I have not seen so fucking rude people in any shop for a long time, Cleckenwell Screws, screw you!!

They're awesome in there! My favourite shop...

With selection of bits, yes, but the people were so rude to me. The Indian guy made me feel so unwelcome and I tell you that, he has "Woman, what do you know about screws and tools?" written all over his face.

It's true, Wednesdays are for everyone and intermediates is there to help bridge the gap from B to A so it's intermediates for a reason.
As I said, you're welcome to any session but you should put the time and effort in outside of these nights also.
We want everyone to progress and step up and that takes work (which is obviously fun).